Sliver forming apparatus



Feb. 22, 1966 F. REITERER SLIVER FORMING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 24, 1963 INVENTOR. FERDINAND REITERER au ikwww his ATTORNEYS Feb. 22, 1966 F. REITERER SLIVER FORMING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 24, 1963 FERDINAND REIT ATTORNEYS Feb. 22, 1966 F. REITERER 3,

SLIVER FORMING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. 24, 1963 INVENTOR.

8 FERDINAND REITERER BY guM/emze, w ATTORNEYS his United States Patent 3,235,912 SLIVER FORMING APPARATUS Ferdinand Reiterer, Rueil-Malmaison, France, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Whitin Machine Works, Whitinsville, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Dec. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 333,002 Claims priority, application France, Jan. 3, 1963, 920,371, Patent 1,352,241 7 Claims. (Cl. 19150) This invention relates to apparatus for forming the web of fibers produced in a carding machine into a sliver and, more particularly, to a new and improved sliver forming apparatus which is more convenient than conventional devices.

Heretofore, apparatus for forming a sliver from the fiber web produced in a carding machine consisted of a trumpet or funnel leading to a pair of calendar rolls supported at both ends so that the fiber web had to be collected and rolled between the hands and then threaded through the funnel and between the calendar rolls by hand. Moreover, to permit this threading operation it is necessary to reduce the rate of operation of the carding machine to approximately one-tenth its normal maximum rate, thereby requiring a special speed-reducing device.

Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a new and improved sliver forming apparatus which eliminates the above mentioned disadvantages of present arrangements.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sliver forming apparatus which can be threaded much more easily and more rapidly than conventional arrangements.

A further object of the invention is to provide sliver forming apparatus arranged to be rethreaded without any reduction in the speed of operation of the machine.

These and other objects of the invention are attained by providing at least one calendar roll which is unrestricted at one end so as to provide ready access to the space between it and a cooperating calender roll. In addition, the apparatus includes a trumpet which is slotted from its central aperture to its periphery to facilitate insertion of the web into the central aperture of the trumpet. This trumpet preferably is supported for rotation about its axis between a position in which the slot is horizontally oriented and aligned with the space between the calender rolls and a position in which the slot if vertically oriented, perpendicular to the calender rolls. Furthermore, the portion of the trumpet below the slot when in the horizontal orientation preferably extends farther away from the central aperture than the portion above the slot so as to facilitate threading and, in the preferred embodiment, the trumpet is biased toward the vertical slot orientation.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view in perspective showing a typical sliver forming apparatus arranged according to the invention with the trumpet turned to the web-threading position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 illustrating the apparatus with the trumpet turned to the normal operating position;

FIG. 3 is a rear perspective view of the trumpet illustrating the manner of mounting thereof;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a shield utilized in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary rear view illustrating the positioning of the shield shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a partial plan view of a carding machine provided with a sliver forming apparatus according to the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the trumpet shown in FIG. 1, illustrating a holding arrangement for releasably retaining the trumpet with its slot in a horizontal orientation.

The representative embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 comprises a pair of calender rolls 10 and 11 driven in the directions indicated by the arrows, the lower roll 10 being supported at both ends in a conventional manner, but the upper roll 11 being supported from a support structure 12 at one end 13 only,-the other end 14 of this roll being unrestricted so as to permit ready access to the gap 15 between the two rolls. In addition, the upper roll 11 is made shorter than the roll 10 and the free end 14 has a smooth ogive shape.

Immediately adjacent to the rolls 10 and 11 on the side toward the carding machine doffer 16 (as shown in FIG. 7) is a funnel or trumpet member 17 having a central aperture 18 directed toward the gap 14 between the calender rolls and a slot 19 extending from the central aperture 18 to the periphery of the trumpet. In addition, the portion 20 of the trumpet body below the slot 19 when the trumpet is oriented with the slot horizontal and in line with the gap 15 in the manner shown in FIG. 1 extends substantially farther from the central aperture 18 than the trumpet portion 21 above the slot 19.

With this arrangement of the trumpet 17 and calender rolls 10 and 11, a web of fibers 22 from the carding machine doifer may very easily be inserted into the slot 19 and into the gap 15 between the rolls 10 and 11 when the trumpet slot is in the horizontal orientation illustrated in FIG. 1. The web 22 is then merely held over toward the right hand side of the slot as viewed in FIG. 1 so as to enter the aperture 18 and the trumpet is rotated to place the slot 19 in a vertical orientation as shown in FIG. 2 so that the fibers are delivered from the calender rolls in a form of a sliver 23.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, the trumpet 17 is ro tatably supported from a vertical support plate 24 having flanged rollers 25, 26, and 27 which engage a circular track 28 afiixed to the trumpet body and having a break at the location of the slot 19. A pin 29 at one end of the track 28 cooperates with a stop 30 on the plate 24 to limit the motion of the trumpet in one direction when the slot is in the vertical orientation and, moreover, the trumpet is biased toward that orientation and against the stop 30 by a weight 31 eccentrically mounted on the trumpet. In addition, a curved shield member 32, illustrated in FIG. 4, is supported from the plate 24 in the manner shown in FIG. 5 so as to cover the opening formed by the slot 19 when the slot is in the vertical orientation, as illustrated in the broken-away view of FIG. 6. This eliminates any possibility of the fiber web 22 riding up in the slot 19 during normal operation of the sliver forming apparatus.

In order to hold releasably the trumpet 17 with the slot 19 in the horizontal orientation during the threading operation and permit rapid restoration to the normal vertical slot orientation, the trumpet includes, as best seen in FIG. 8, a catch 33, and a latch arm 34 pressed upwardly by a spring 35 is mounted so as to engage the catch when the slot 19 is horizontal. A release handle 36 attached to the arm 34 permits manual release of the catch 33, thereby allowing the eccentric weight 31 to turn the trumpet to the orientation wherein the slot 19 is vertical.

In operation, when the sliver forming apparatus is to be rethreaded, the trumpet 17 is turned to the position shown in FIG. 1 with slot 19 horizontal and in line with the gap 15 between the rolls 10 and 11, the catch 33 and the arm 34 being effective to retain the trumpet in this orientation. As the web 22 is delivered from the doifer 16, it is inserted into the slot 19 and into the gap 15 between the rolls by merely moving it laterally into the slot and gap from the left, as viewed in FIG. 1. The web is then held over toward the central aperture 18 and the arm 36 is depressed, releasing the catch 33 and allowing the trumpet to rotate to its normal operating orientation as shown in FIG. 2, thereby delivering sliver 23 from the calender rolls.

Although the invention has been described herein with a reference to a specific embodiment, many modifications and variations therein will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, all such variations and modifications are included within the intended scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. Sliver forming apparatus comprising calender roll means including a pair of adjacent calender rolls, one of the rolls being supported only at one end thereof to provide convenient access to the space between the rolls, and trumpet means for supplying a web of fibers to the calender rolls in sliver form comprising a trumpet-shaped member having a central aperture and having a slot extending between the central aperture and the periphery of the member, and including means for supporting the trumpet-shaped member for (limited rotary motion about the axis passing through its central aperture.

2. Sliver forming apparatus according to claim 1 including means for releasably retaining the trumpet-shaped member in an orientation wherein the slot therein is in line with the space between the rolls and extends in the same direction as the unsupported end of one of the rolls.

3. Sliver forming apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the portion of the trumpet-shaped member on the side of the slot adjacent to the unsupported end of the one 4 calender roll in the orientation wherein the slot is in line with the space between the rolls extends a shorter distance from the central aperture than the portion of the trumpet-shaped member on the opposite side of the slot.

4. Sliver forming apparatus according to claim 1 including means biasing the trumpet-shaped member toward an orientation wherein the slot extends perpendicularly to the calender rolls.

5. Sliver forming apparatus according to claim 4 including shield means interposed between the slot in the trumpet-shaped member and the adjacent calender roll when the trumpet-shaped member is in the orientation wherein the slot is perpendicular to the calender rolls.

6. Sliver forming apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the unsupported end of said one calender roll has an ogival shape.

7. In sliver forming apparatus including a pair of adjacent calender rolls and a trumpet-shaped member having a central aperture, means forming a radial slot in the trumpet-shaped member extending from the central aperture to the periphery thereof, and support means permitting relative rotary motion of the trumpet member and the calender rolls between a position wherein the radial slot is in line with the space between the rolls and another position wherein the slot is out of alignment with the space between the rolls.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 420,506 2/1890 Baldner 19-150 1,596,804 8/1926 Casablancas 19288X 2,363,470 11/1944 Lannan et al. 19-150 2,897,549 8/1959 'Paterson 19150 DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner. 

1. SILVER FORMING APPARATUS COMPRISING CALENDER ROLL MEANS INCLUDING A PAIR OF ADJACENT CALENDER ROLLS, ONE OF THE ROLLS BEING SUPPORTED ONLY AT ONE END THEREOF TO PROVIDE CONVENIENT ACCESS TO THE SPACE BETWEEN THE ROLLS, AND TRUMPET MEANS FOR SUPPLYING A WEB OF FIBERS TO THE CALENDER ROLLS IN SILVER FORM COMPRISING A TRUMPET-SHAPED MEMBER HAVING A CENTRAL APERTURE AND HAVING A SLOT EXTENDING BETWEEN THE CENTRAL APERTURE AND THE PERIPHERY OF THE MEMBER, AND INCLUDING MEANS FOR SUPPORTING THE TRUMPET-SHAPED MEMBER FOR LIMITED ROTATY MOTION ABOUT THE AXIS PASSING THROUGH ITS CENTRAL APERTURE. 